Need Stress Relief? Try Mindfulness Meditation

Have you ever heard someone say that they cope with having a lot on their
mind by doing mindfulness meditation? Sitting still with your thoughts
might seem intimidating at first, but experts say this practice is one of
the best ways to cope with stress.

But what is it?

“Mindfulness meditation is a form of present moment awareness,” explains
Neda Gould, Ph.D
, associate director of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Anxiety
Disorders Clinic and head of a mindfulness program at the Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine. “It’s about paying attention in the present
moment — to what is here — in a nonjudgmental way without fixating on the
past or dwelling on the future.”

Johns Hopkins
research
has shown that this practice of nonjudgmental self-awareness is one of the
most effective ways to improve mood and anxiety. Gould and her colleagues
are also researching how mindfulness meditation can address problems like
migraines.

The good news: With practice, anyone can do it. The even better news for
women is that some research suggests the practice may hold more benefits
for them than for men.

Why Relaxation Is Different Than Meditation

Mindfulness meditation isn’t the same as trying to achieve a certain state,
like relaxation. Instead, it’s simply about noticing and accepting
experiences in the present moment, whether that is an intense emotion,
sensations in the body, the rhythm of your breath or floating thoughts.

“In this sense, you can’t do it wrong,” Gould says. “By dropping in and
being present with what’s here, a byproduct over time is often relaxation.
But we don’t set that intention because it can make people stressed if they
don’t actually achieve a state of relaxation.”

Rather than think about mindfulness as a goal, it’s helpful to think of
mindful meditation as a muscle that you’re exercising. “Like any other
muscle, it takes time and practice to build,” says Gould.

How to Do Mindful Meditation

Gould suggests beginning with 10 to 20 minutes of mindfulness meditation
per day, eventually working up to 40 minutes or longer. Starting out using
guided audio is very helpful.

She recommends focusing on the breath and the senses — taste, touch, sight,
smell and sound — as “anchors.”

“Describe to yourself what’s going on,” she says. “This will bring you back
to the present moment.”

Ways Mindfulness Can Help Your Health

In general, our natural response is to push away unpleasant experiences,
says Gould. However, this often doesn’t work to make us feel better or ease
anxiety. An alternative is to “make space” for negative sensations and
accept them in any particular moment.

Anxiety.
Anxiety involves focusing on what Gould calls “future stories,” which
can cause distress. Think of these future stories as the “what ifs” or
fears that run through your mind when you’re quiet. “When we feel
anxious, our mind is consumed with possibilities, but the only reality
is what’s here right now. Most of our fears don’t happen,” Gould says.
You can notice these thoughts and when you come back to the present,
you can “drop the story,” she says, and lessen the worry.

Depression.
While anxiety is future-oriented, depression often involves a
preoccupation with things that happened in the past. As with anxiety,
it’s helpful to notice these thoughts and then let them go and return
to the present.

Pain.
“We often add on to pain with our thoughts,” she says. For example,
when you have a migraine and you dwell on how it seems like it will
never end, you’re adding the mental pain of worry to the physical pain
of the migraine. Using mindfulness meditation to manage pain allows you
to be aware of the sensations of pain, allow them to exist, even
explore them a bit if you can, and at any point, you can shift your
attention to something more pleasant in your body or your surroundings.
In this sense, you’re making space for the pain while also realizing
that you don’t have to become overwhelmed by it.

Sleep.
Stress reactions, like racing thoughts, keep you from falling asleep.
Gould recommends a type of mindfulness meditation called the body scan,
where you notice present sensations in the body from head to toe and
name to yourself in a few words what is present. There’s an expression,
“If you can name it, you can tame it,” she says, which can ultimately
help you to relax.

Most of all, don’t be discouraged if mindfulness meditation is difficult at
first. Like any other discipline, it gets simpler with time.